All these and more are on display to be looked at ― and touched ― at the Maturango Museum's “Behind the Scenes” tours of their Natural History Storage Collection. Tours are conducted by Maria Getusky, the Curator of Natural History, and proceeds will got to repair and improve existing natural history displays, purchase new ones, and to cover taxidermy costs for specimens for the collection.

Getusky recently took some time to show a reporter some specimens and talk about the tour.

The progression is from “the insects to the birds to the mammals, from the smallest to the largest,” she said.

“I show them the cases for the insects. I start from the smallest to the largest, and I explain each of those,” Getusky said, adding that she has eight or nine cases.

“And then I'm going to show them some birds. And then I show them the bone collection. And then the mammals of the desert here.

“I mainly focus on the upper Mojave desert,” she explained. “I am totally focused on our local fauna and flora, because people, they have to learn what is here first, and then if they have any questions or anything about North American animals and birds and insects, I can answer those as much as I can.”

Getusky added people are welcome to ask questions about anything in the collection.

The tour lasts roughly an hour and 20 minutes and is not just visual. They are welcome to touch the specimens, “with my supervision,” she said.

She showed a reporter a wide range of specimens, ranging from taxidermied felines and birds to bear, dog, and coyote skulls and an iguana preserved in alcohol.

“This is a desert iguana, pregnant” she said, holding up another jar of alcohol, “and this is an alligator lizard, like a big gecko.

“I also have a very large collection of nests. I have hundreds of them.”

The tour ends up with rocks, what Getusky called “a very nice rock collection: very colorful, all type of colors.”

“They look at the collection. They can touch.”

At the end of the tour, the children are given rocks, although Getusky is careful not to tell them too much about the souvenir they get to take home.

“I can help them with some details, but I don't want to give them more, I want them to discover what it is,” she said.

A running commentary accompanies the tour. “We talk about food, what [the animals] eat, about reproduction cycle, what they have to do if they find any of this in the wilderness,” she said.

Page 2 of 2 - “They want to know about the offspring, they ask me if they can feed them, they ask me all types of questions, if it's allowed to be fed or not. Mostly we don't want anybody to feed the wild animals, because most of the people don't know what wild animals eat. I am trying to teach them what is allowed and what is not allowed.”

Another question that comes up is what to do with roadkill, a source of specimens for the museum. “We give them instructions how to pack road kill, how to bring it to the museum, in the first three hours if it's possible, in a cooler.”

Another donation is likely to work its way into Getusky's presentation, she said. Sheryl and Jack Scanlon recently gifted her with an original book they put together. The book shows original photos of a family of Mojave ground squirrels who nested and had a litter in the Scanlons' backyard.

Getusky said the book is likely to prove helpful as an addition to her tour.

“They told me, we can show you the pictures we had done. Then suddenly they came with a whole book done and a DVD, and I was like, 'wow.'

“They just took some extraordinary pictures, awesome pictures, of these little creatures. I think they will be a delight for all the kids and adults to see this book and to appreciate the work of these people.

“They wanted to help the museum. They really made something really nice.”

The Maturango Museum's Natural History Storage Collection “Behind the Scenes” tour is planned to be offered year-round, although it will not be available from Sept. 15 through the end of November. It is currently offered Thursdays from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Children are free, and adult tickets cost $5. Because it is a special event, museum members have to pay the fee. Reservations are preferred. For more information or to schedule a tour, contact Maria Getusky at 760-264-6522.